Assessing quality of life following long-acting injection treatment: 4 cases register

Abstract

Introduction

Quality of life is defined by the World Health Organization as “Individuals’ perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns.” Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling, lifelong disorder, associated with severe social and occupational dysfunction. Aripiprazole Long Acting Injection (LAI) is indicated for maintenance schizophrenia treatment in adult patients stabilised with oral aripiprazole. It is the fourth second-generation antipsychotic depot formulation approved for treating schizophrenia.

Objectives

Assessing quality of life in 4 patients treated with aripiprazole LAI.

Methods

In this paper, we evaluate of quality of life in 4 subjects with diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (less 10 years of diagnostic), male, age between 42 and 50 years, with poor adherence to oral treatment. These patients received aripirazol LAI 400 mg/month. We evaluate quality of life at baseline and after 3 months. We used the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) and WHO-Quality of Life-Bref (WHOQOL-BREF).

Results

Results demonstrated significant greater improvements in all QLS scores. No significant changes in the WHOQOL-BREF total, but improvement in subscale scores.

Conclusion

Quality of life in schizophrenia is adversely influenced by the presence of clinical symptoms, especially negative and depressive. Depot medications can improve treatment adherence, however, long-term antipsychotic use can lead to irreversible adverse effects (dyskinesias), which in some cases were reduced by using newer antipsychotics (risperidone, paliperidone, aripiprazole). Aripiprazole LAI can be useful to improve quality of life. Further methodologically robust studies are needed to generate evidence-based conclusions.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.